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8 Signs that you need a Holiday.

Do you need a holiday?

It’s getting to that time of the year when many of us take some time to get away from work. For many of us it is a much-needed break. For others, we simply like to take advantage of the public holidays that fall in a short period of time. Do you need a holiday?

Taking a break from work is actually a really important part of working. It allows a reset and also gives you an opportunity to focus in other areas of your life. According to research the benefits of taking a holiday can include, better and prolonged sleep, higher rates of productivity and a reduction of stress.

In fact, a study undertaken by the Marshfield Clinic found that women who took a holiday break less than once every two years were more likely to suffer from depression and increased stress as compared to women who took leave at least twice a year. What about you? Do you need a holiday?

Here are 8 signs that you need to take a break….go on, you need a holiday.

Everything is starting to feel like a big deal.

If you are starting to let level 4 issues become level ten issues, then maybe it is time to take a break. Even if you like a bit of drama in your workspace, you are managing to turn the smallest issue into a tempest that could wipe out a large city. When you can’t distinguish between the big matters and the small matters, you are getting a signal, loud and clear, that you need a holiday.

You can’t stand your colleagues.

It is probably you, not them if you find that colleagues that you usually find easy to work with are driving you up the wall. Likewise, if you are feeling violent towards the colleagues that you didn’t like in the first place, you may be needing to get away from the office. They haven’t changed, you have run out of tolerance for others.

You aren’t recharging on weekends or small breaks

You are in need of a holiday if you get to work on a Monday feeling only slightly less exhausted than you did on Friday. If you can’t remember the last long weekend you took, maybe you need a holiday?

You are day dreaming about an alternate reality

This might not necessarily be an alternate reality where you are on holiday. If you are day dreaming about an alternate reality that allows you to be anywhere other than where you are, then you probably need a break. If you need more than a holiday and actually need to leave your workplace, try reading

Sleeping is problematic

Tossing and turning more than usual? Finding it hard to stop thinking about work when you close your eyes? When you are really stressed it has been found that you are less likely to sleep effectively. It’s funny (funny, not funny), but the more exhausted we are with stress related matters, the less likely we are to be having good sleep. Try going on a holiday.

Your normal techniques to relax are no longer effective

You find that in the middle of yoga you are feeling tense about the meeting you had earlier in the day. Golf with mates is just tiring. After a massage, you remain as tight as a ball of string. A dinner with friends used to be a grand affair that left you feeling great, now it feels like a chore. When you can’t find effective ways to relax anymore your body is telling you to take it to the next level. You need a holiday.

Your loved ones are putting up with a lot of cranky from you

I was once told by a loved one that I had lost my bubbles. The reality was, in a nice way he was telling me that I was being a giant, grumpy bitch. Slowly the joy had leaked from my person and all that was left was an exhausted work obsessed husk. It’s not just loved ones either. Everyone who works with you probably wants you to take a break, so that they get a break too!

You physically feel like rubbish, but still keep going

Sleep is not great, exercise is not doing much and you are probably sneaking one too many Magnums (the ice cream or the champagne, you pick your poison). You need a holiday when you physically don’t feel great, but still keep going anyway. You know that you are not living healthily, but don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. How about a reset? You need a holiday.

You desperately need a holiday

There is a reason that most industrialised countries have minimum leave entitlements for employees. It’s not because employers or Governments are simply nice people. There has been much research into what is good for us and taking a holiday away from the workplace has been found to be great for us. Research backs up the benefits of taking regular time off, finding that staff that take periodic holiday breaks are more productive and take less sick leave. Now if that isn’t a good reason for taking a holiday, I don’t know what is!

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